Soudal - Quick-Step had 55 wins, third in the UCI rankings and a lot of success with Remco Evenepoel. Still a season of ups and downs, but a collective that performed all year round.
UCI ranking 2023: 18.697 (3rd)
Victories (World Tour): 55 (23)
Top riders in UCI rankings: Remco Evenepoel (3rd)
Rúben Silva (CyclingUpToDate): 8. Quick-Step is Remco Evenepoel. A talented enough rider to have a whole team behind him, and the Belgian team tries to shift it's nature to support him. For good reason, but it was a season of ups and downs. Time-Trial world title, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Clásica San Sebastián, Belgian title, UAE Tour... Podiums in Catalunya and Suisse, plus stage wins and days in the lead of both Vuelta a Espana and Giro d'Italia, it's almost a dream season. Yet he's so good that somehow it felt like a disappointment because he aimed for a Grand Tour win. Covid destroyed his Giro dream, and his Vuelta (where he also won KOM) was derailed by one bad day. What could've been? We'll never know, but despite the disappointing feeling for the Belgian I value his immense results a lot. The team largely depended on him however it still got 58 wins. Both Fabio Jakobsen and Tim Merlier still brought a reasonable number of victories, Andrea Bagioli, Mauro Schmid and Kasper Asgreen occasionally sent fireworks although lacking consistency... Ilan van Wilder had a breakthrough. Actually it is not easy to see where so many wins came from but they certainly nailed that aspect. A good season, despite it's low points.
Kieran Wood (CyclingUpToDate): 8. Whilst perhaps not at their levels of supreme success seen in recent years, 55 victories over the year still marks a very successful season. As the team becomes more focused on supporting Remco Evenepoel, their season's success becomes equally intertwined. Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Clasica San Sebastian, time-trial World Championship and multiple stages of the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana remains an impressive campaign despite the Belgian’s doubters quick to highlight the lack of a sustained Grand Tour challenge this year.
Ondřej Zhasil (CyclingUpToDate): 4. No competition was small enough for Soudal - Quick Step to win it. Remco Evenepoel's achievements this year - LBL title, San Sebastian hat-trick and 5 GT stages are remarkable. But so is the fact that the best classics team of the past twenty-or-so years was completely invisible in its own territory. Having blown-up in GC as well, there is not much to look back at proudly for the Wolfpack.
Juan Larra (CiclismoAlDia): 9. 55 wins and third in UCI points despite a radical change of objectives and squad. The clear objective was for Remco Evenepoel to win the Giro d'Italia, but he had to withdraw because of Covid. Despite this, he still managed 2 partial stage wins. In addition, the Belgian won the Liège, the Klasikoa and the UAE Tour, as well as 3 stages of the Vuelta a España. An exciting Ilan van Wilder took the Vuelta a España and Tim Merlier contributed 11 wins to Remco's 13.
Jorge Borreguero (CiclismoAlDia): 6. Without Remco Evenepoel, Soudal Quick-Step is a wasteland. Despite the overall fiasco at the Vuelta a España, the Belgian has proven he's one of the best riders in the world in 2023. Three stage wins in the Vuelta to make amends, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the UAE Tour and the Clásica de San Sebastián are the team's best wins this year, all by Evenepoel.
Victor Gonzalez (CiclismoAlDia): 8. Perhaps they haven't achieved the results or victories they expected, but Remco Evenepoel has performed at his level (except for the fateful stage that cost him the Vuelta a España), Andrea Bagioli finished 2nd in a Monument like Il Lombardia, and Ilan Van Wilder has shown great glimpses of his potential. More than enough to give them a high grade.
Filipe Pereira (CiclismoAtual): 7. From a broad perspective, it feels like Soudal - Quick Step didn´t have a great season. They underperformed in the cobbled classics, had no Grand Tours GC wins and got a Tour stage win by the skin of their teeth. But by taking a look at the team's results, you see that is not true. They were pretty much winning all around, they just didn't stand out as much. Van Wilder had an amazing final stretch of the season, as well as Bagioli and despite not winning in Grand Tours, Fabio Jakobsen and Tim Merlier celebrated a good number of times. They even won a monument with Remco Evenepoel who stood out in pretty much every race he was in. Maybe not a great season, with Soudal being victims of their own success, but a really good one nonetheless
Carlos Silva (CiclismoAtual): 8.
Ivan Silva (CiclismoAtual): 6.5. 6 stage wins in Grand Tours, 5 of them thanks to Evenepoel who also won mountain classification in Vuelta a España. But the team seems to no longer be the typical stage-hunting team at the Grand Tours with several sprint victories. Shout out also to Remco's wins at Liege, UAE Tour and San Sebastian classic aswell as honorable mention to Bagioli's podium in Lombardia.
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